The obituary of Colonel Floyd J. Thompson said that for nine years he "endured cold cells, jungle cages, and torture in Vietnam, becoming the longest-serving American prisoner of war in any conflict." He died July 16, 2002, at age 69.

The citation that accompanied his Distinguished Service Medal said "Jimmy" Thompson had endured "unfathomable deprivation and hardship" in the service of his country.

Perhaps the most arresting paragraph in the obituary was this: "'Dying is easy,' an enemy camp commander told him. 'Living is the difficult thing.'"

The obituary revealed how true that was in Colonel Thompson's case. He had been released from captivity on March 16, 1973. After he returned home he was divorced twice, he battled alcoholism and depression, and in 1981, he suffered a stroke that put him in a coma for six months and left him partly paralyzed.